Frequency and structure of stimulant designer drug consumption among suspected drug users in Budapest and South-East Hungary in 2012-2013

Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved..

Identification of abuse and frequency patterns of stimulant designer drugs (SDDs) provides important information for their risk assessment and legislative control. In the present study urine and/or blood samples of suspected drug users in criminal cases were analysed by GC-MS for 38 SDDs, and for the most frequent illicit and psychoactive licit drugs in Hungary. Between July 2012 and June 2013, 2744 suspected drug users were sampled in Budapest and during 2012 and 2013, 774 persons were sampled in South-East Hungary (Csongrád County - neighbour the Romanian and Serbian borders). In Budapest 71.4% of cases, and in South-East Hungary 61% of cases were positive for at least one substance. Pentedrone was the most frequent SDD in both regions; however, the frequency distribution of the remaining drugs was highly diverse. SDDs were frequently present in combination with other drugs - generally with amphetamine or other stimulants, cannabis and/or benzodiazepines. The quarterly distribution of positive samples indicated remarkable seasonal changes in the frequency and pattern of consumption. Substances placed on the list of illicit drugs (mephedrone, 4-fluoro-amphetamine, MDPV, methylone, 4-MEC) showed a subsequent drop in frequency and were replaced by other SDDs (pentedrone, 3-MMC, methiopropamine, etc.). Newly identified compounds from seized materials were added to the list of new psychoactive substances ("Schedule C"). While the risk assessment of substances listed in Schedule C has to be performed within 2 years after scheduling, continuous monitoring of their presence and frequency among drug users is essential. In summary, our results suggest which substances should be dropped from the list of SDDs measured in biological samples; while the appearance of new substances from seized materials indicate the need for developing adequate standard analytical methods.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2015

Erschienen:

2015

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:248

Enthalten in:

Forensic science international - 248(2015) vom: 10. März, Seite 181-6

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Institóris, László [VerfasserIn]
Árok, Zsófia [VerfasserIn]
Seprenyi, Katalin [VerfasserIn]
Varga, Tibor [VerfasserIn]
Sára-Klausz, Gabriella [VerfasserIn]
Keller, Éva [VerfasserIn]
Tóth, Réka A [VerfasserIn]
Sala, Leonardo [VerfasserIn]
Kereszty, Éva [VerfasserIn]
Róna, Kálmán [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Biological samples
Designer Drugs
Frequency
Hungary
Illicit Drugs
Journal Article
Stimulant designer drugs
Suspected drug users

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 22.12.2015

Date Revised 10.12.2019

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1016/j.forsciint.2015.01.002

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM246135964